American Greetings Corp. announced late Wednesday, March 26, that construction of its new headquarters, called "creative studios," would begin in September. The company also said infrastructure work associated with its new headquarters in the second phase of Crocker Park in Westlake would begin in early April.The company said in a news release that it had consummated the transaction to take its world headquarters to Westlake in agreements with the western suburb and developer Stark Enterprises Inc.In addition to the personal expressions maker's new headquarters, which it calls a creative studio, the next phase of Crocker Park includes more than 300 apartments, more than 220,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a new hotel of more than 100 rooms.The project will cost more than $350 million. It also incorporates more than $50 million in public infrastructure associated with the project, including streets, utilities and parking garages.“Projects of this magnitude require foresight and tremendous partnership, and we want to thank all of those involved for making this project a reality,” said Elie Weiss, president of American Greetings real estate, in a statement. “We would like to specifically recognize the role that Jobs Ohio and the city of Westlake has played in bringing this project to fruition."In the news release, Robert Stark, president and CEO of Stark Enterprises, said the announcement "is the result of 15 years of doggedly pursuing making Crocker Park the best example of a mixed-use community core development anywhere. We are extremely grateful to American Greetings, the city of Westlake and all those who have worked so hard to make this a reality.”However, Westlake's gain is the loss of the city of Brooklyn, the corporate home of American Greetings since the 1960s. The move will shift an estimated 1,600 jobs to the Westlake, according to estimates when the deal was first struck in 2012.In the on-again, off-again world of major real estate development, the American Greetings project has had some big pauses. The project was cued to go in 2012, when it was delayed as the company studied going private. Once that was completed, planning resumed officially last October. American Greetings has annual revenues in the $2 billion range, it said in its March 26 news release.Throughout the on-again, off-again formalities, Stark staffers and the city of Westlake kept updating plans to ready the project for when the major corporation returned to its office needs.

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